This is the latest installment of Study Hall, an occasional series that serves as a one-stop shop for must-know information on critical topics impacting schools.
Title IX, the statute preventing sex discrimination in federally funded education programs, has been around for over five decades, but its implementation in schools remains a hotbed of controversy, with regulations implementing the law continuing to ping-pong between Democratic and Republican administrations.
Since President Barack Obama's administration, district and school leaders have navigated differing policies on preventing and addressing sex discrimination.
Now, with a second Trump administration on the horizon, even more changes to Title IX policies are expected. Here are key issues you need to know about the statute and its regulations.
What does Title IX guarantee?
The Title IX federal civil rights law, signed into law by President Nixon as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, protects students and teachers from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that get federal funds. The statute reads:
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
Title IX requires schools to investigate and prevent sex-based harassment and assault. However, how "sex-based harassment" is interpreted through regulation vastly changes who the statute applies to and the incidents that would qualify. For example, regulations under the Biden administration expanded the definition of "sex-based harassment" to include harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation, which protected LGBTQI+ students for the first time under Title IX.
How schools conduct Title IX investigations in response to sex discrimination complaints — such as who decides their outcome, how those outcomes are decided, and when they are decided — also changes according to the regulations issued by the U.S. Education Department.
How have policies changed in the last three administrations?
Implementation of the statute looked drastically different under the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations — and now looks poised to change yet again with a second Trump administration on the horizon. In fact, Title IX experts often refer to the situation as "policy ping-pong."
During Obama's terms in office, the U.S. Department of Education between 2011 and 2016 issued a series of documents outlining schools’ obligation to protect students from sexual harassment and violence under Title IX.
However, under the Trump administration, then-U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in 2017 rescinded the Obama administration's guidance and then in May 2020 released a new final rule.
That rule changed how schools approached the complaint investigation and resolution process, including setting a higher bar to determine whether an incident took place. Both for and against the DeVos rule said it offered more protections to those accused of sexual harassment or assault than to those alleging a violation.
Since then, Title IX regulations have changed once more. President Joe Biden, also after overturning the previous administration's guidance and interpretation of Title IX, issued a final rule in April 2024 with different procedures and, for the first time, protections for LGBTQ+ students.
How do LGBTQ+ protections come into play?
LGBTQ+ student protections under Title IX have also changed over the years, reflecting a divide between conservative and liberal interpretations of the statute.
The Obama administration's documents included prohibitions on gender-based harassment and, in some cases, hostility based on sex or sex-stereotyping, as well as joint guidance with the Justice Department detailing how Title IX protects transgender students.
DeVos promptly withdrew those documents after becoming education secretary in 2017, and used an Office for Civil Rights case to set policy interpreting Title IX to exclude transgender student protections. DeVos and — later in 2020 — her 2020 rule's supporters said interpreting Title IX to protect LGBTQ+ students, especially transgender students, violated women's rights.
The Biden administration, however, disagreed with that interpretation and withdrew the Trump administration's documents, eventually finalizing its own rule in 2024 protecting LGBTQ+ students. That rule has been heavily litigated, leading to a patchwork of policies nationwide and the 2020 rule still being in effect in 26 states.
Which rule do I follow now?
Which rule — either Trump administration's 2020 rule or Biden's 2024 iteration — is in effect depends on your location and the legal proceedings impacting your area.
For example, the 2024 rule is not enforceable in 26 states conservative states that sued the Biden administration. That means OCR cannot penalize a school for not following this administration's policies.
In the remaining states, the 2024 rule is in effect, and OCR has made clear it would enforce the rule in the areas where it still stands.
However, in addition to the states where the 2024 rule is on hold, it's also unenforceable in hundreds of other individual schools — including some in traditionally liberal states like California. This is the result of ongoing litigation in a Kansas case that enjoined the rule in specific schools attended by the students and families suing the administration.
As a result, implementation differs not only by state, but sometimes by schools within a district.
This will likely all change in the near future, with another Trump administration that may revert to the 2020 rules or develop new ones. In addition, the U.S.Supreme Court could eventually take a case to decide the issue.
What's happening to transgender athletes’ rights?
While the path remains uncertain for the 2024 Title IX final rule, a second Title IX proposal unveiled in April 2023 was withdrawn on Dec. 20. That proposal would have prohibited blanket bans on transgender students participating in sports teams aligning with their gender identities. Those bans are currently in place in a handful of conservative states.
The draft rule would have also provided districts with a framework to follow when setting policies for including transgender athletes. The Education Department repeatedly postponed finalizing that proposal since its introduction, moving it in July to the agency's long-term agenda without a rough deadline.
What will happen under the Trump administration?
President-elect Donald Trump, in his first term, oversaw an administration that enacted a rewrite of Title IX regulations. The Trump-era rules overhauled the Title IX reporting and investigating process, extending procedural timelines and putting in place other requirements in a way that many K-12 experts said were unsuitable for elementary and secondary settings. Advocates of the rule said it offered more protections for wrongly accused students.
Trump has promised to undo the Biden administration’s Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students “on day 1” of his presidency. “It’ll be terminated,” he said of the new Title IX rule on a conservative Philadelphia radio talk show in May.
With the 2024 rule still embroiled in legal battles — which so far have overwhelmingly gone against the Biden administration — those lawsuits, or another case involving LGBTQ+ protections under Title IX, may ultimately go before the Supreme Court.
A decision from the high court on the issue would mean more uniformity across school and district Title IX policies nationwide — and a less volatile Title IX landscape.
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